Italy is planning to cancel its membership of the Belt and Road initiative as intensifying doubts about China’s key international project and a widening of the East-West divide cast a shadow over its tenth anniversary.
The accession of Italy to the worldwide investment programme masterminded by President Xi was one of the Chinese leader’s greatest political triumphs. Italy remains the only member of the G7 club of rich western nations to have joined.
But the Italian foreign minister’s visit to Beijing this week was dominated by hostile comments from his colleagues about the initiative, also called the New Silk Road.
“The Silk Road did not bring the results we expected,” Antonio Tajani said before his visit. He is said to have told Wang Yi, his
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